The NutriBullet Pro was my first foray into personal smoothie cup blenders. This blender was the first blender I specifically bought to make daily smoothies.
I did a lot of research on various blenders including higher-end Vitamix blenders before making this purchase. As a first blender, I choose to go the lower-priced personal smoothie blender the NutriBullet Pro 900w blender. I thought I’d start cheap to see if I would like drinking regular smoothies. I scored a great deal from Bed Bath and Beyond getting the blender 2 cups and other accessories on sale for $55. At the time of this writing, the normal price is around $79.99. I used this blender for 4-5 days a week for about 9 months before getting smoothie serious and moving up to a Vitamix E320 with PCA (personal cup attachment).
Overall the NutriBullet Pro 900w personal blender is a great entry-level blender that gets the job done. Expect some durability issues with the NutriBullet and if you get serious about making smoothies a regular habit you probably want to skip this model and move to something more powerful. Read on to learn about my personal experience with the NutriBullet Pro.
NutriBullet Pro Specs
Power: 900-watt motor capable of blending most raw and frozen fruits and vegetables
Colors: I had the Champaign color and think it looks pretty good. The champaign color looks like a brushed dull metallic pink shade. The Nutibullet Pro is available in an impressive array of colors including Champaign, Berry, Clover, Cobalt, Coral, Onyx, Rose Gold, Silver, Sky, Violet, and White
Available Cup Sizes: 24oz and 32oz cups
Warranty: 1 year
What accessories are available with the NutriBullet Pro?
The Nutribullet Pro is typically packaged with different sets of cups and attachments that screw onto the cups.
You typically get 2 cups either 2 32oz cups or 1 24oz cup and 32oz cups. Screw on attachments includes a basic lip, a lip with handle, and a to-go cup that has a flip-up lid.
My Nutribullet Pro package came with 1 of each size of the cups, and 1 of each of the screw-on accessories. I liked the size and shape of both cups and typically found myself using the 24 oz cups most of the time when making smoothies for myself. If I wanted to make multiple servings of smoothie for myself or if I wanted to make some for myself and my two kids the 32 oz cup comes in handy. The cups are nice and wide allowing you to pack in ingredients well. There is a line on the cup about 2/3 of the way full that shows you exactly where the maximum amount of ingredients should go.
One of the drawbacks to the cups is that they are singled walled and single-walled means they sweat. My smoothies usually include frozen ingredients and that meant that they would sweat heavily. I found myself usually using the lip ring with a handle when consuming smoothies from the blender.
How does the Nutribullet Pro work?
The Nutribullet Pro’s main components are the blender base, the blade, and the cup. The top of the cup is ringed to allow items to be screwed onto it. After you’ve filled your cup with smoothie ingredients you screw the blade onto the top and flip the cup over.
The next step is to place the cup and blade attachment onto the blender base. To do this some tabs fit onto the base, are pressed down, and turned clockwise to lock in and turn the blender on. There are no power buttons or pulsing with a button.
Once you’ve finished blending your smoothie you turn the cup counter-clockwise and pull it up out of the base. Once off the base, you screw off the blade and screw on whichever cup drinking attachment you’d like.
One issue that I found is when screwing on the blade attachment to the cup you have to make sure it is seated well and on tightly. If it is not on correctly you will leak smoothie into the base while blending and it can be a pain to clean. I did cause leaks a few times when I first got the blender, but it only occasionally happens now that I know to screw it on correctly and tightly.
Does the NutriBullet Pro blend smoothies well?
The Nutribullet Pro is capable of blending a good smooth smoothie however it is not without effort. I typically use fresh greens, coconut milk, and frozen fruit in my smoothies including a banana and about a handful of other mixed frozen fruits.
The manufacture recommends that you do not blend for more than 60 seconds and if you must exceed 60 seconds you should wait a few minutes between each 60-second blending session to ensure you do not overheat the blender. For my regular smoothies, I would say it takes at least 2 minutes to blend to a creamy consistency that I prefer with my smoothies. Only 60 seconds leaves chucks and thickness beyond my liking.
Blending for greater than 60 seconds can hurt the blender’s lifespan. I also find that you constantly need to remove the cup from the blender and tap contents down at least 3-5 times until it starts to blend well.
If you give enough time to the blender and use the right ratio of items, the Nutribullet Pro is cable of blending a nice creamy smoothie.
Is the NutriBullet Pro loud?
I would characterize the NutriBullet as loud. I think you’d be hard-pressed to find a smoothie blender that isn’t loud. With its powerful motor and blending capability, I would say its average in loudness compared to other personal blenders. It is not as loud as my full sized Vitamix ec320 blender.
The blender does walk a little bit when blending. It’s not as bad as other blenders I’ve used, but it does move a little so it’s best not to use it near the edge of a counter.
Is it easy to clean the NutriBullet Pro?
Under normal operation, the NutriBullet Pro is easy to clean. You simply unscrew off the blade attachment and clean it with soap and water. The cups are cleaned the same way but they are also dishwasher safe on the top rack.
If you happen to leak smoothie onto or into the base this can be a pain to clean. Leakage sometimes happens when the blade attachment isn’t seated just right or not tightly to the cup. Cleaning this involves wiping the base and trying to get under rubber stoppers on the inside of the base. It is hard to get all of anything that leaks into the base.
Is the NutriBullet Pro Durable?
In my experience, the NutriBullet Pro is not a durable blender. After about 9 months of regular semi-daily use, the blade attachment began to leak. After blending a smoothie I noticed this gunk on the outside of the blade attachment that looked like melted chocolate and had the consistency of a light grease. I was alarmed by this and was able to clean most of the substance off. I blended a glass of just water and found that the grease came back after blending. Also, horrifying was that it appeared to containment the inside of the cup too as the water was not clear after blending just water in a clean cup.
After doing some online research I found out that over time, where the blade attaches to plastic, can loosen allowing liquid into the blade housing. After a call to NutriBullet, they confirmed that a food-grade grease can leak out, which I assume is what happened to mine.
My Nutirbullet Pro cam with a 1-year warranty and I was able to get a replacement from customer service. The blade was covered, but I did have to pay shipping and taxes which came out to $4.99. My warranty did not extend after the faulty blade and had it been out of warranty it would have cost about $30 for a new replacement blade more than half of what I paid for the entire unit. As part of the replacement, I was emailed instructions on how to properly use the blender and in it is said to replace the blade and cups every 6 months or as needed for optimal performance.
The durability and short term life span of the components ultimately led me to pursue a different option.
Is NutriBullet customer service good?
After my blade attachment started to leak I contacted NutriBullet for service and found the customer service to be good. I sent an email through their website describing the issue and heard back from them the next day. The replied asking me some information about the blender and how I use it. After providing the information including a picture of my original receipt they had me call in directly to order a replacement blade.
The call went well, it took about 15 minutes and they were able to order me a replacement blade for the cost of $4.99.
Smoothie Warriors final thoughts on the Nutribullet Pro 900w
If you are in the market for an economical personal blender that will only be used from time to time the Nutribullet Pro 900w blender may be a good option for you. However, if it is something you will be using frequently, durability and performance comes into question. To have to replace cups and blades every 6 months seems excessive to me and that cost might be better spent in the long run on higher quality and more powerful blender.